Many of you have talents, both evident and hidden within you, but you fear taking action to present them to the world. You look at the people who act, and you say “I wish I could do that”, or “One day I will do that”, but time has never been about uplifting the doubtful. People don’t help, especially if they know that they can sway you towards the negative, and many of us aren’t born with enough of that fire to push past everything and strive to ascend.

This does not mean that you should accept that being stagnant is your fate. I will not sit here and pretend to know the answer for motivation, and enabling action, but I can tell you that failure is not as devastating as you think it is. Failure is a part of the game, and while success is what we all strive for in whatever we do, if there is no falling, there is no bruising; there is no healing, and there is no strengthening. Some of us will fail often–seemingly all the time–and some of us will succeed at most things that we try. The people who told you that life is an even playing field lied to you, so don’t try to look at it as a competition. Live your life according to you, and use other’s success and failures as motivation. Ask questions, measure what you are able to do versus what you cannot do, but on your own terms. Motivation comes when you tear down the barriers of doubt, procrastination, and care.

Whenever I make goals, I try not to make them a big deal. If something is a big deal it stays on your mind. It weighs on you. It brings in the doubt, and you can easily fall into the trap of sitting still, mulling over how you are going to make that first step. Making the big deal small allows me to just step forward and do it. If I fail, I may try to salvage the failure, but if I need to start over, it’s not so big a deal to do that. Looking back at some of the major accomplishments in my life, I can honestly say that I didn’t develop a grandiose plan to do them. I simply looked at the big picture, chopped the big picture into attainable chunks, chopped those chunks into daily tasks, and then tried my best to stick to them. This isn’t to say that this approach will work well for you, but it can give you a starting point if you feel like things get too overwhelming.

One thing that has helped me grow into a person of action is finding out who I truly am. I am an introverted person by nature so it is easy for me to shrug people off who may look to tear me down in any way. It’s sad to say but I expect it; not because it fuels me to hear someone say I can’t–I’m not motivated by the negativity of others–but because assuming the worst makes me appreciate the people who have my back even more. Motivation becomes a part of life, you find your passion and you work it till death. No comparisons are made, no attempts to bring someone down for being ahead of you, just the art of doing your thing.

Once you know who you are you can recognize your bad habits, and work towards avoiding them. You will also know what motivates you, and can work on building on that so that you can stay on the path towards getting to that goal. This, for me has been the key to reaching a point of action:

No comparing myself with others.

Realizing my weaknesses and strengths and navigating life accordingly.

Making the people around me respect my time when the grind is going. You have to carve out your time.

Learning myself and what I can tolerate.

Constant reading, and staying in touch with the community.

When people ask me how I stay moving, it is for the reasons that I outlined above. I find my comfort zone in constant creation, and it makes it seem as if I am a machine. Being less motivated to build on your craft does not mean that you are lazy, or weird, but you should try and push past it if you recognize that you’re not moving. Each of us have something to offer the world–even if it’s an example of perseverance through failure–its one of the last lessons you get as a true hustler. It’s not the winning or the losing that holds the value, it’s the game and how you choose to play it.

About Greg Dragon

Greg Dragon is the founder, publisher and editor-in-chief here at the Hall of The Black Dragon Magazine. You can follow Greg on Twitter @HobDragon or on his Google+ account. Greg Dragon is an independent author that writes a variety of novels. You can view his author page on GregDragon.com.